Suggested palette set-up for oil painting

I will be posting a palette set-up with pic over the next few days in response to a question from Paul (capeannpainter) here's my color line-up:

2 yellows: one light and bright, one dark. my choices: cad yellow light, cad medium, yellow ochre, raw or burnt umber

2 reds: one light and bright, one dark. choices: cad red light, grumbacher red, alizarin crimson

2 blues: one light and bright, one dark. choices: cobalt blue, pthalo blue. i rarely use ultramarine except to mix a violet.

other colors: burnt sienna: the only dark orange there is.

green: pthalo green and viridian. i only use these when i can't mix the color from the above blue/yellow choices.

titanium white, original formula pre-test (grumbacher)

black: ivory for a cool palette, mars black for a warm palette. i rarely use black, but it has its place.

when i start i determine my palette by what is before me.


best,
deb.

and once again, everything you might want to know about, mixing and a bit more, I recommend Helen Van Wyck's Color Recipes.  you can click through to Amazon.com via this link and i will get a few pennies should you order, or order your book through your local booksellar.  My local bookstore is The Bookstore on Main Street in Gloucester MA, tell them Debbie sent you.

Helen Van Wyck: She will teach you how to paint, or make soup.

Helen Van Wyck's color recipes is in my studio library. 

I met Helen when I was 13 years old and had just started lessons with Gloucester artist Ken Gore.  My grandmother, grandfather, great-aunt were taking lessons with Helen, and she had just released a new book on painting with acrylic paints.  I went to the book release, she signed my book, it too is in my collection.  It is the first 'how to' book I ever owned.  The most valuable lesson in her acrylic book was how to block in the head, to do portraits.

In color recipes Helen explains in very simple language and color accurate photos, the properties of pigment, paint and light.  The best information this book gave me is about reds.  Have you ever noticed that some reds (cadmiums) lean towards orange, and that cadmium reds turn dull when extended with white?  The best red to use?  Grumbacher Red!  It is a true red, leaning neither towards orange nor blue.  I stays bright and true in mixture and dries a bit faster than the cadmium reds. 

Helen writes in a warm accessible manner that makes me feel as if I am in her studio with her, learning how to paint, or make soup! 

So, if you are having issues with your color, and want to know how to make warm greens, which colors 'creep', which whites are warm or cool...get this book! 

 if you click through to Amazon from here, I will get a small piece of the pie for my recommendation.